Murdered mechanic had cash in shoeboxes
Brian McKandie was found dead at his Rothienorman cottage in 2016
A murdered mechanic's body was found after a concerned customer spotted the bloodbath through the pensioner's window, a trial has heard.
Police later found "hundreds of thousands of pounds" in cash in Brian McKandie's rural cottage near Badenscoth, near Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire.
He was found lying in a pool of blood behind the living room door of his property on March 12 2016.
A customer of the 67-year-old mechanic, who worked from a garage on his property, told how she had become concerned for his welfare when she went to his house to discuss a forthcoming MOT on her car.
She looked through the window and saw part of the bloodbath - prompting her to phone police.
Kelly Dunbar, 42, told the High Court in Aberdeen how she, her partner, and daughter had gone in the family car to the cottage to speak to him on the morning of Saturday March 12.
She found the radio on in the garage, the keys in the door and the main garage door open - but no sign of Mr McKandie.
Miss Dunbar said they left - but noticed as they were heading away that the curtains were closed on his living room window.
She went home but was so worried that she drove back 20 minutes later when she looked through the window and saw blood.
Miss Dunbar said: "I thought something wasn't right.
"I looked through the window beside the door into the hallway."
Advocate depute Iain McSporran QC asked: "What did you see?"
She said: "Blood. It was on an inside door, on the floor and the hall wall.
"I asked my partner to look through the window and he told me to call the police.
"The police arrived and kicked the door in.
"He couldn't get the living room door open.
"We were asked to go to the door and stay behind.
"I asked the police offier what had happened and he gave me the news."
Earlier, defence QC Iain Duguid asked Mr McKandie's friend, William Cruickshanks, about the deceased man's financial situation.
He said: "He accumulated hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash in his house - does that surprise you?"
Mr Cruickshanks replied: "It does surprise me, yes."
Other witnesses told the trial of seeing Mr McKandie the day before he was killed - while a neighbour and a delivery driver told the court they had been at Mr McKandie's property on the day he was found.
Isobel Smith, 69, said she lived on a farm adjacent to Mr McKandie's home and had known him since they were children.
She said she went to his door looking for help with her phone line around 10.30am on the day he was discovered - but got no response.
Later a police officer came to her door asking about Mr McKandie and saying he had been hurt.
She said: "I asked him if Brian had gone missing.
"He said 'worse - he's dead'."
Sidebottom, 25, of Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire, denies a single charge of murder.
It is alleged that on March 11 2016 at Fairview Cottages, Badenscoth, Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire, he murdered Brian McKandie and robbed him of a sum of money.
He has lodged special defences of alibi and incrimination.
The trial, before judge Lord Uist and a jury of five men and ten women, continues.